We were poor

Seriously, there is no other point that should come out of the Manchester United performance against Liverpool over the weekend.

We were poor, very poor. Liverpool dominated the entire period of 90 minutes. We were barely creating chances and our midfield was not dominating the game. If Lucas, a player who has been below average throughout the season till now, can dominate the midfield and be creative as well, then the opposing midfield has to be poor. Scholes and Carrick were not up for it. Carrick is going down my favorites list. His European performances have been better but somehow he is not any longer premiership class. Scholes is getting old and cannot last 90 minutes. Giggs had an off day which for a 36 year old would happen once a while. Valencia was having a good game and worked tirelessly. He was unlucky to hit the bar towards the end.

Fletcher was missed in the midfield and I was surprised why Anderson did not start the game. He has been a better performer in United midfield as compared to Carrick and Scholes and does provide us with some creativity in the area.

Berbatov was poor for me. He is not a person who moves around a lot and need players around him to move a lot which United players were not able to. Rooney worked his socks off but never got going nor was ably supported.

Defensively Vidic made a hat-trick of red cards against Liverpool just like Manchester United made a hat-trick of losses to Liverpool. Ferdinand was partly at fault for the Torres shot but for me Edwin Van Der Sar should have done better. I agree Torres is a world class striker but getting beaten on your near post is not a sign of world class goalkeeper.

Nani coming on when United were a goal down and trying to chase was a pathetic sight to watch. Is this the best of game-changers we are left with?

There were some refereeing decisions which didn’t go our way but we have reaped the benefits of decisions going our ways in other games, so we can’t complain about that.

All in all we were awfully poor but the good thing was that everyone apart from Chelsea (Tottenham, Arsenal, Man City, Aston Villa, Everton) dropped points. Also, last season Liverpool beat United as well but the title was still ours. If the title still goes our way, I’ll take this defeat with a smiling face.

But come January, I would like to see some transfer activity happening at Old Trafford.

We’ll win next season or the season after

Its not our season yet again

Liverpool (un)welcome Manchester United with thoughts in their minds that its not going to be their year yet again. The team that came so close to winning the premier league title last year and whose fans were gasping deep breaths ‘next season would be our season’ would be thinking, our wait for the 19th title has just been extended by another season (reminds me of the movie Fever Pitch).

Currently a 7 point gap between these two teams doesn’t mean that Liverpool can’t win the title nor will a loss in the game against Manchester United mean the same thing. We have seen teams go on runs to cover up such gaps and no one else knows it better than we Manchester United fans. No matter what the media says after the result of this game, title hunt would still be on for both teams no matter what the result is (I vaguely remember media writing off Manchester United after their loss at Burnley).

But after 4 losses in a row, another loss against Manchester United would be catastrophic for confidence of Liverpool. Liverpool owners have said that they back Rafa Benitez but we all know what the result of this game can do. Liverpool win, they are back in the hunt, they lose Rafa’s job is in danger (though I don’t think he would be sacked).

Reminds me of an assassination attempt on Hitler by the British which was called off on the grounds that Hitler is a poor strategist and anyone who replaces would be better than him at war. Same way, Rafa should stay at Liverpool, makes it so much easier for Liverpool to lose the title

What the bigger cause of worry is that with Man City, Aston Villa and Spurs improving their performances by huge margins, Liverpool run the risk of losing out on Champions League place (so much for the title dreams). Couple that with a failure to qualify for Champions League knock out stages, it would be financial trouble for a club from where we hear the news of lack of funds almost daily. Also, Liverpool gate receipts are less in value as compared to Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United as they can’t afford higher prices like their rivals and their stadium capacity is anyways lesser than others. They rely heavily on gate receipts in Euros from Champions League games which clearly highlights the importance of qualification for knock out phases this year and for Champions League next year.

Also, next year Liverpool’s Champions League final win against Milan goes off for calculations of UEFA Co-efficients which decide seedings for teams in Champions League. A poor showing in this year’s Champions League would also mean loss of 1st seeding for next year’s tournament (if they qualify)

Dailymail published an article on Rafa’s spending during his reign which amounts to £229m which by any means is not a small amount. Most of the players in the list are good players who didn’t perform well at Liverpool but were good at other places, a point made by Jermaine Penant in Guardian. Both these articles point to inadequacies of Rafa Benitez.

His obsession with zonal marking, over reliance on a bunch of players, David Ngog as Torres’ backup, not using players like Benayoun and Voronin enough and no eye for creativity – all these factors point as to how poor has Rafa become since his Valencia days. Sometimes I wonder if he should be given credit for the Champions League win over Milan.

Whether or not Liverpool fans are happy about Rafa being Liverpool manager but Manchester United fans would definitely be happy by Rafa’s statement that he would never coach Manchester United. Thank goodness for that Rafa, you can continue to have your beach ball adventures as making peace with the beach ball might help you win the title.

Weekend full of surprises

The weekend started with Ferguson getting Manager of the Month award and Torres running away with the Player of the Month award but these were not the surprises this week.

Bolton 2-2 Tottenham

Tottenham have been flying really high this season with exceptions of their games against Manchester United and  Chelsea. They have been ruthless to all other opposition they have faced but against Bolton it was another story. Bolton took the lead twice and all Spurs could manage was a draw.

Burnley 2-1 Birmingham

Turf Moor has already got the reputation of a fortress this season but Birmingham have not been beaten on this ground since 1976. The record was broken finally with Fletcher and Bikey giving Burnley the win.

Hull City 2-1 Wigan

This was a contrasting change of fortunes for both teams. Wigan won last weekend against Chelsea while Hull were demolished by Liverpool. Yet, Hull managed to win this one.

Wolves 0-1 Portsmouth

Played 7 lost 7. Scored 3 conceded 13. This was Portsmouth story before this game. But finally they are off the mark with a win. Hassan Yebda, a loan signing from Benfica breaking the deadlock.

Manchester United 2-2 Sunderland

Who would have thought that a team with 9 consecutive wins in all competitions under their belt would come so close to losing all 3 points against Sunderland. The first half was all Sunderland. Nani, Wellbeck were not even visible. Scholes’ passing was wayward. Rooney and Berbatov were not getting any time on the ball. And Bent’s quickness caused them to concede pretty soon into the game. There was no shot on target by United in the first half. Second half saw them equalize through Berbatov’s brilliance but then Jones restored the lead with little help from Foster (who again disappointed in goal). It was Manchester United’s resilience that paid off finally when Evra’s shot which was going off target was deflected by Anton Ferdinand into his own net robbing Sunderland of the 3 points.

Arsenal 6-2 Blackburn

Blackburn took the lead twice before Arsenal placing the ball into Blackburn goal as and when they wanted to. It was a scintillating display from the Arsenal team who after going down made the scoreline look as if the 2 goals from Blackburn were just consolation. Vermaelen seems to have invented another position in football – Central Attacking Defender.

Everton 1-1 Stoke City

Everton went behind in this one before Osman equalized. Everton are unbeaten in 6 games now.

Chelsea 2-0 Liverpool

The first half was good play by Liverpool but all their balls in the box were being cleared well by the Chelsea defence except once when Torres came really close to scoring. Chelsea on the other hand were causing trouble for Liverpool defence from set pieces getting free headers twice or thrice. But 2nd half saw Chelsea take the lead and ensure the win which takes them to the top of the table.

Sevilla 2-1 Real Madrid

Many thought that Madrid’s run till now didn’t have any real tests and this was the first time they are facing real quality opposition. If this was the case the result has failure written all over it for Real Madrid. With Barcelona winning again this weekend, this means Madrid are now 3 points adrift the pace.

Athletico Madrid 2-1 Real Zaragoza

Finally, Athletico Madrid manage to win. But they were lucky as Zaragoza got two penalties and missed one. Its surprising though that a team with talented strikers namely Aguerro and Forlan are barely able to register a win the Liga.

And now we are headed into the internationals break. Hope the internationals continue the same excitement as the leagues have.

Giggs and Nani do it again

You never listen, do you?

I disagree with anyone who says that Nani is inconsistent. I think he is very consistent. When his team needs him to pass, he shoots and when his team needs him to shoot, he passes. He continues to disappoint in every game he plays. What more level of consistency can one expect from him? His display against Stoke City proves it. When Berbatov and Rooney were unmarked on the edge of the box, he decided to shoot for goal himself and missed in the process. I think it was wrong of Rooney to expect a pass from him in this situation and he was wasting his time showing his anger at him.

All Manchester United fans are hoping that Nani can replace Ronaldo to some extent but Nani is doing is best to prove them wrong. I am just wondering how long will it take for Sir Alex Ferguson to get rid of him.

Giggs on the other hand showed what a simple game football is. He made a simple pass that created a goal for Berbatov (who rightfully acknowledged Giggs’ effort) and then produced a beautiful delivery from the free kick for John O’Shea to score.

Valencia on the other hand looks little above average if not great. He knows he has to run behind defenders and created passes and cross for the strikers and that is what he does. His delivery though will improve as he gets more playing time.

Fletcher and Scholes looked their usual self with their tackles. Fletcher good with them while Scholes bad with them. No one in the world can understand how come a player of Scholes talent never got his tackling right. But anyways good to see him avoid the red card. The handball was accidental and was not yellow card worthy.

It was a frustrating game till Giggs’ introduction and I was left with a question in my mind – If Nani is playing like he is, who’ll play when Giggs’ is injured or needs rest? Till I get an answer to this one, lets hope Nani does some wonders.

Everywhere else it was goals galore:

• Portsmouth 0-1 Everton: What a surprise?
• Birmingham 1-2 Bolton: Really not interested.
• Blackburn 2-1 Aston Villa: That was really a surprise.
• Liverpool 6-1 Hull City: The surprise was not Torres hattrick but Babel scoring two. One of my friends who is a Liverpool fan used to say Babel is worse than Nani, I beg to disagree. Details views are available here. Not on Babel/Nani words but the game.
• Tottenham 5-0 Burnley: Normal business resumes at White Hart Lane.
• Wigan 3-1 Chelsea: Perfect records goes away. Cech red card. But lack of character show by Chelsea.
• Fulham 0-1 Arsenal: A game that could have sprung a surprise but Arsenal did their business.
• Sunderland 5-2 Wolves: Goals galore.
• Man City 3-1 West Ham: Tevez scores against his old club.

Spurs do it again

How many times have we seen Spurs flatter to deceive? They tend to give promising starts which somehow don’t turn into positive form throughout the season. This season is turning into the same old story.

Spurs started the season with a win over Liverpool in a convincing fashion which made football pundits write off Liverpool’s title challenge and made Spurs a top 4 threat along with Man City.

Then came the taming of Hull City who were good against Chelsea on the opening weekend. Hull ended up conceding 5 goals in the game. 2-1 victories against West Ham and Birmingham were usual business before Manchester United came calling at White Hart Lane.

Till this point it was all going pretty well for them. The defensive injuries to Woodgate and Dawson were well covered by Bassong and King (surprisingly). But Luka Modric, who was a driving force till now in the midfield was now injured. Surprisingly as soon as injuries start plaguing Tottenham, all sense tends to go away. Harry Redknapp started the game against Manchester United with Keane in the right of the midfield and Peter Crouch starting alongside Defoe. It looked an attacking line up on paper but the result didn’t show the same thing. A goal in the first minute gave them the lead but then Man Utd controlled the game well to push them to their first defeat of the season. The sad part was the lack of ideas for Spurs. They barely got any ball throughout the game. Harry sat on the sidelines like a sorry figure.

Then it was a trip to Stamford Bridge to face Chelsea. Robbie Keane returned to his striking role alongside Defoe. But it was a dominating display by a Chelsea side who are quietly doing their business of winning games while all the limelight is on performances of other top 4 teams. The injuries to King and Bassong left them weak in the defense and Chelsea capitalized on that weakness beautifully.

Spurs always look a world beating side against smaller teams but when it comes to big games somehow they tend to disappoint. Liverpool game was a really good performance but games against Man Utd and Chelsea show that work still needs to be done for them to be a real contender to Champions League spot. Injuries have never been kind to them and now they barely have anyone to play in center half positions.

No matter how attractive football Spurs tend to play, luck seems to be never on their side.

Same old story for Spurs…

Yet again, Spurs took the lead against Manchester United and yet again they ended up losing. What is with this fixture? Time and again this fixture tends to entertain but Spurs somehow always end up losing.

Tottenham Hotspur started with Defoe, Crouch and Keane in attack and King and Bassong in defence. Harry Redknapp showed his intent to attack with the starting line up he chose. Manchester United’s starting line up looked a bit cautious. Berbatov started against his old club alongside Rooney. Midfield starters included Giggs, Scholes, Anderson and Fletcher. It was an early return from injury for Rio Ferdinand who was partnering Vidic in the defence.

Combination of Crouch, Defoe and Keane was always bound to cause problems for the United defence and boy, didn’t they start well. Within 30 seconds Crouch forced Vidic to make a defence clearance which Defoe converted into a goal via an overhead kick. It looked as if Spurs meant business and they are going to prove their metal this season. First Liverpool were tamed and it looked now its Manchester United’s turn.

But United had other plans. Slowly and slowly they started taking control of the midfield and the game. Berbatov was causing all sorts of trouble for Spurs as he was dropping in the hole between Palacois and defence of King and Bassong. Palacios was only able to stop Berbatov by giving away a free kick which was converted by Ryan Giggs to bring United level. After that it was all United driven by Paul Scholes. Some of their play was really beautiful. Spurs were creating chances but were unable to convert the. Anderson got a chance before half time and he converted it into his first goal for Manchester United in the premier league.

Spurs introduced Jenas after the break and he created a good chance only to see Foster make an excellent save. Later United got reduced to 10 men as Scholes got his marching order after receiving a second yellow card. Fergie replaced Berbatov with Carrick to keep the midfield dominating. United got a good break on counterattack and Rooney converted it into a goal. Coolly done through the legs of Cudicini. Rooney showed no signs of being tired after playing 2 games during the international break.

The win sends Man Utd to second place in the table behind Chelsea. They area ahead of Man City and Spurs on goal difference.

The most surprising things that I found during the game was the way Harry Redknapp looked dejected as if he had no answers to United’s dominance. The changes he made were surprising. Jenas for Palacios made some impact. But Hutton for Corluka made no difference. And Kranjcar for Keane? If things are not working for you why not change the system a bit. Why only go Route 1? Why not throw in Pavlychynko in place of Crouch and see if something happens.

For United, it was a good game. Apart from the first minute where they conceded, they dominated a lot throughout the game. They scored from free kick and were creating chances from open play and scored an awesome goal from counter attack. And even with a man down, showed a lot of character in the win. Scholes had a good game, the red card was a bit harsh but the kind of tackles he makes always tend to attract those. Anderson finally scored and that would finally shut the media up about his bust up with Fergie. Berbatov had a good game. Really wanted to see him perform well. It was good to see Ferdinand back in action. But I am really impressed with Evra this season. He is improving at a really fast pace. One moment he is doing defensive duties and within a flash he would be in opposition half creating a chance for his team or probably scoring one himself (side netted a chance close to the end). I am worried about Nani though. He continues to disappoint me whenever he plays.

Overall a win showing class of the champions and no signs of missing Ronaldo yet.

In other major games

• Liverpool thrashed Burnley 4-0 at home – Yossi Benayoun got a hat-trick and assisted Dirt Kuyt to a goal.
• Manchester City beat Arsenal 4-2 at home – Adebayor scored against his old club as Man City made a solid statement that they mean business this season and want a top four finish.
• Chelsea beat Stoke City 2-1 away from home – Chelsea scored very late in both halves but the goal they conceded was shabby. It looked everyone paused and only Faye was moving.

Red Devils visit White Hart Lane

Manchester United

Tottenham Hotspur

Its so good to have that feeling finally. English Premier League back in action after the international break.

And what a return. Manchester United travel to White Hart Lane to face Tottenham Hotspur. I am not sure though whether I should see this positively or negatively from a United fan’s perspective.

The worrying sign is that Spurs are in the form of their life. They have a 100% record till now and have scored 11 goals in the premier league. They started off with a win against Liverpool against all odds and people who have seen them play would agree with me that they are playing really well right now.

Manchester United have already lost once this season and that too against Burnley. They have a huge injury list and haven’t exactly turned eyeballs with their display on the pitch.

But this has traditionally been a good fixture for United. Spurs have lost 10 premier league games at home to United, more than against any other team.

Spurs have started every premier league game with pretty much the same players. Carlo Cudicini, Gomes – the goalkeepers have started 2 games each while Ledley King has started 3 games and Alan Hutton 1. Apart from these everyone else has played all their 4 games this season. It would be interesting to see who replaces Luka Modric who is out with an injury. He has been a driving force in their midfield.

The threats in the Spurs side are Jermaine Defoe – who has scored 4 goals in 4 games and Aaron Lennon – 2 goals and 2 assists in 4 games. Aaron Lennon also had a good game for England against Croatia providing 2 assists in the 5-1 victory. It would be interesting to see if Harry Redknapp starts with Roman Pavlyuchenko – who has scored 3 goals in 2 matches for Russia during this international break but is yet to play for Tottenham in the premier league this season.

Manchester United have only 3 players who have started every game – Ben Foster, Wayne Rooney and Patrice Evra. The newest member of the team to go on the injury list is John O’Shea. But there is some good news on the injury front. There is news that Rio Ferdinand could be returning from injury in time for the trip to White Hart Lane. Wouldn’t that be a boost to the United defence. If he is not able to make it, Evans/Brown are capable replacements. Gary Neville is also expected to feature in this game but you can never guess who Sir Alex Ferguson puts on to the pitch.

As for threats, Wayne Rooney is the biggest weapon they have. He has already scored 4 times this season and scored for England during the international break as well. He has also scored 4 times in last 4 meeting between these two teams. But apart from him nobody has exactly done wonders this season. Both Berbatov and Owen are more than capable of scoring and so is the midfield. The big question is though who’ll start.

I predict this to be a really interesting match but in the end United would be too good for Spurs. 1-2 for Man United for me with Spurs opening the scoring.

EPL season… review till now…

There have been some surprises and some usuals in the EPL season till now. Here is a run down of every team.

• Chelsea: Sitting on top of the table. Perfect record till now. Surprised? I am not. They did not sell anyone in the transfer window and added a couple of players which actually makes them stronger considering most of their rivals sold out their star players. They do have the criticism of having players on the wrong side of 30 but their starting XI generally has a mix of players on both sides of 30.
• Tottenham Hotspur: Harry Redknapp had a good run with them since taking over. Season has started with a perfect record in 4 games. They always had the money and were very active in the transfer window. In my opinion Harry is a great manager. He did wonders at Portsmouth. Then why were they not expected to do well? They generally are very unlucky with injuries and they will hit them sooner or later. (They have started with Modric going out).
• Manchester United: The traditional slow starters of the EPL. And they do tend to give a surprising result every season (Liverpool 4-1, Burnley 1-0). They are like a marathon runner. Slow to start with and then pick up pace and surprise everyone with there run while everyone else starts getting tired. Their squad depth always gives them an advantage and it is already being tested this season.
• Manchester City: 3 wins in 3 games. The big spender tag. Supposedly big star names though in my opinion Tevez, Santa Cruz are not exactly big stars. Very active in transfer market. Nobody expected their ‘star players’ to gel in so quickly. But they did start well. And Mark Hughes is a good manager. He showed that with Wales. He can make a team perform well even without the stars. So considering that he got some ‘stars’ why was it a surprise that they are performing well? Also, they barely have been tested till now.
• Stoke City: There 7 points from 4 matches have been against Sunderland, Burnley and Birmingham. Liverpool beat the hell out of them. To survive in the premiership they have to get points off these teams and that is exactly what they did.
• Arsenal: 6 points from 3 matches. Only loss being against Manchester United. They always play with amazing style no matter who is on pitch. Lost Toure and Adebayor during the summer. But they have always relied on youth to perform. Then why is everyone shocked to see their young team perform admirably. Though in my opinion they would start tiring off and then the results will start going against them.
• Liverpool: 2 losses from 4 matches. They lost just 2 games entire last season. Lost Alonso to Real Madrid. Barely any new signings and the ones that they did sign are injured. They rely too much on Gerrard and Torres and like last season are predictable. When you lose your spine, you are bound to be in pain and they definitely are in pain.
• Aston Villa: 3 games 6 points.  Loss against Wigan but win against Liverpool. They had Europa League distraction and don’t have a huge squad. To add to it, they barely have a defence. Laursen retired, Knight sold off. Not properly replaced. Lack of squad depth would always haunt you. Though better support from fans can do them some good.
• Sunderland: Currently lying at 9th place but would usually be expected to be in bottom half of the table. They are close to that, aren’t they. Lost to Chelsea which was expected but their loss to Stoke was probably a surprise. But the games which the teams at the wrong end of the table have to win can always spring a surprise.
• Burnley: They were tagged giant killers last season for their performances against big teams and they have a good manager in Owen Coyle. Wins against Manchester United and Everton have given them 6 points and 10th place. They are pretty much unchanged from last season and considering they are newly promoted team, can always cause a surprise or two and didn’t they surprise with their results.
• West Ham United: 4 points from 3 games with a loss against Spurs (who are in an amazing form). Zola has gelled this team well but they were not very active in the transfer window. They are currently 11th and they are expected to be languishing mid table or close to bottom half.
• Birmingham: They won against Portsmouth (who hasn’t), lost to Spurs and drew with Stoke. The 6 pointers at the wrong end of the table can always go either way. They are expected to be in the bottom half of the table and are currently 12th.
• Wolves: They are not expected to be any giant killers or spring any surprises. But they can surely cause trouble in the 6 pointers and they have got their 4 points from those. Losses against Man City and West Ham were barely a surprise.
• Hull City: Whoever was linked with them over the summer, would run away. They were barely able to sign anyone during the transfer window. Currently 14 and are expected to be in fight for relegation.
• Fulham: Aston Villa game was a 6 pointer for them considering that Villa would be one of their rivals for Europa League spot. Roy Hutchinson did a good job last season with them and added a few decent players to the squad. Loss is 1 game they would be expected to get points in should not be a worry for their fans.
• Everton: They wouldn’t have been expected to win Arsenal game but it was the manner of defeat which surprised everyone. Loss to Burnley was again a surprise but considering giant killing form of Burnley they can do stuff. Good for them that the Lescott saga is over while their new signings might take some time to gel in but David Moyes should be able to get them back on track.
• Wigan Athletic: They started off well with a win over Villa but 3 defeats against Wolves, Man Utd and Everton pushed them back. They have a good manager in Martinez but bottom half of the table should be there place.
• Blackburn: They are not getting points off their 6 pointer opponents. Sam Allardyce is a shrewd manager and can get scrappy wins but somehow it hasn’t yet started working for them. Relegation dog fight is their game and that is what they would be preparing themselves for.
• Bolton: Yet to get off the mark. Another team losing their 6 pointers. They play the same way season and season again and rely too much on set pieces and Kevin Davies. Sunderland and Hull are opponents they should be getting points off if they want to stay up.
• Portsmouth: Involved in the takeover saga all summer. Sold almost everyone from the team and tried to sign everyone available on loan. This is where they will be entire season.

Transfer Day deadline – a midfielder please…

Transfer day deadline is fast approaching and I am seriously dying to see Manchester United sign a creative midfielder for that missing spark in their game play.

Last season Man Utd closed with the deadline day signing of Berbatov. He is yet to show his true self in United colors but I am sure strike force is an area which is well covered right now. Even though Fergie has said that there would not be any more transfer business by United but he said the same thing before that Norwegian player signed the dotted line.

I would have loved to see Van Der Vaart sign for Man United but as I said in my previous blog entry, he has decided to stay at Real Madrid this season. What options are we left with then? IMO, none.

I just hope that if there are no new signings, the current crop is able to provide the creative spark to the team or somehow magically Hargreaves comes back pretty soon and stays fit. Damn!! I have become like an Arsenal fan, praying for player fitness to win the title.

Apart from Man Utd, Aston Villa are in hunt for defenders. I think they should be able to get Richard Dunne from Man City along with Collins from West Ham. Everton should be able to get their Spanish players, Heitinga and Banega.

Spurs have already got Kranjcar (hope I spelled his name right). Spurs seem to be becoming a small Crotian colony.

Liverpool don’t have any funds to surprise us on deadline day and Arsenal barely ever spend them. Chelsea do have loads but think they want to sit and watch since Ribery seems too expensive and Pato and Pirlo disappointed over the weekend in Milan derby.

Sunderland seem to assemble a decent enough squad and could spring a surprise on the deadline day. They do have the cash though.

Hull are doing there best to sign at lease someone, anyone but everyone seems to back off but them signing someone would surely be a surprise.

And to top it all, Portsmouth probably would sign every player available on loan.

Van Der Vaart staying in Madrid

Rafael Van Der Vaart’s official website has quoted that he is staying with Real Madrid and not moving to another as was expected earlier.

He was signed by Real Madrid towards the end of 2007-2008 season. He has not played a lot of games for Madrid since his arrival. First Ramos used him as an impact substitute and now the new coach had earlier told him that he was not part of his plans.

After loads of new arrivals at Real Madrid, it was expected that he would leave the giants for some other club for playing time. After the moves of Sneijder and Robben, the rumours intensified even more. He was linked with various English clubs like Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool and did not have a huge price tag but after talks with Real Madrid he has decided to stay with them.

In my opinion, he is an awesome player who would barely get any playing time at Real Madrid after the arrivals of Ronald, Kaka and Alonso. He would have been lot better plying his trade at some other club. Personally as a Man Utd fan I would have loved to see him as a replacement for Paul Scholes but a player of his caliber would have fitted in at any good club.